


It Started With A Party

by jjuu1l



Series: Junior Avengers and Friends [3]
Category: Young Avengers (Comics)
Genre: Also Katie doesn't have any powers, Gen, Kinda, Marriage, Maybe more - Freeform, Multiple chapters are certain though, Older!Billy, Older!Teddy, Only Kind of - Freeform, So there's kind of a plot going on here?, Very Katie centric, and a kid, for good reason, maybe less, yet - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-15
Updated: 2017-12-17
Packaged: 2018-12-15 14:08:37
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 18,809
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11807532
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jjuu1l/pseuds/jjuu1l
Summary: Katie Altman-Kaplan is the daughter to the (arguably) most powerful superheroes in the universe. She's the leader of a group of teenage superheroes using the name her parents had coined. She even has a steady girlfriend she's in love with. There's only one problem in Katie's life, though it's less of a problem than everyone thinks it is. She was born without any kind of powers.This is a story of kidnapping, love, deception, and hopefully getting some powers for herself.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [beckle84](https://archiveofourown.org/users/beckle84/gifts).



> Ssssoooo I wrote more. This time with multiple chapters and a possible plot. I'd like to dedicate this chapter to the one person who commented on my last story.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I kinda redid the first chapter! As of now i am so stressed about finals I just need a distraction and making these chapters not shit because I want the best for these characters!!!

Family reunions stress all three of the Altman-Kaplans. Even though they only visit Billy’s side of the family -Teddy doesn’t want to expose their daughter to the Skrulls or Kree unless it’s the only option- but it’s still the most stressful time of year for all of them. Which is why Katie’s curious when her dads seem peaceful when they announce they’re going to another reunion.

“Didn’t our family reunion happen like two months ago?” Katie asked looking up from her phone. Her parents are exchanging a glance they think she can’t see.Which makes Katie suspicious. They don’t answer her question quickly enough and she continues to talk. “Yeah, I’m sure it was two months ago because afterward Great Grandpa tried to recruit some of the young avengers through me.”

The memory makes her cringe. As much as she loves her grandpa she knows he’s never going to change his ways. Especially now that he’s fifteen steps from death’s door, as he so dramatically puts it. It’s a joke he keeps making and it makes everyone uncomfortable. But they just laugh it off and pretend that everything’s okay, that for several hours every 6 or 7 months they’re a normal family enjoying time together.

She’d been helping him with dishes when he’d first brought up the idea. Katie’s first reaction was to remind him it wasn’t ‘the old glory days’ and that the Brotherhood was now run by someone else. He rolled his eyes at her and continued to ask about her teammates. That’s when she decided enough was enough and excused herself to go and help her dad’s outside with cleaning.

“He what?” Teddy looked over at her, concern radiating off every cell in his body. She froze, suddenly unable to remember if she’d mentioned this before. Judging by her other dad’s look of anger she hadn’t.

“He’s just like old, probably too stuck in his ways to talk to someone my age with my abilities without at least trying to recruit me for _the superior species uprising_ or whatever.” Katie shrugged attempting to make what she knew would make her parents angry a stepping stone back to their conversation. “But that’s also not the point. Why’re we having another family reunion so soon?”

Billy and Teddy exchange a glance that she knows will result in a long conversation later. They both seem eager to drop the subject and soon they’re both sitting on the couch and facing her.

“So, you know the story of how we met right?” Katie nods. It’s been her favorite story ever since she was born. It was one of the most romantic, yet insane thing ever. “Well, aunt Kate’s decided to hold a little team reunion Saturday to get everyone back together for a couple hours.”

Katie’s not entirely sure how to feel about this reunion idea. If she knew anything about superheroes it was that gathering together resulted in a lot of property damage. Of course, her parents deemed it an amazing idea and on Saturday they teleported to Aunt Kate’s house.

It wasn’t much different from the last time she’d seen it. She was still living in California, still on the beach, still had a giant pool. That, unfortunately, ended up being the only things she remembered about Aunt Kate’s house. It’d been years she’d visited. Most of the time Aunt Kate visited them after a mission led her to New York.

Katie saw dozens of familiar faces and even a couple people showing off old uniforms and joking about the old days. She felt out of place immediately. Because here’s the thing, even though she’d been born to William Kaplan aka Sorcerer Supreme/Demiurge, and Theodore Altman aka Dorreck VIII aka Hulkling/The King of Freaking Space. She didn’t have powers.

Somehow, she’d ended up drawing the shortest stick, making her a fish out of water here. Surrounded by heroes and mutants and genetic anomalies and everyone else in between. She heard her dads whisper to each other before a petite lady came out of nowhere and tackled the two of them.

“Teddy! Billy! It’s been so long! Too long! How are you two lovebirds?” She pulled back and smiled up at her parents. She was barely taller than Katie and looked downright fragile at first glance. Her long ponytail hit Katie in the face with both hair and the smell of coconuts.

Her dads looked at the girl with so much affection that Katie felt out of place. Before she could squeeze out of the situation the girl turned to Katie with a smile brighter than the sun.

“Oh Katie, you’re so big now! Gosh, it’s been years since I’ve seen you.” She wrapped her arms around the younger girl. Effectively crushing the seed of doubt in her chest, the woman also seemed to be crushing her ribs.

“Cassie, calm down, Katie can’t recover from a crushed rib than we can.” Her dad said jokingly, and then the little seed of doubt dug itself back into the planter inside her chest. God, this sucked so much. Cassie pulled back with a look that made Katie want to say that she was fine and hadn’t done anything wrong.

Cassie jumped back and said a quick sorry and turned back to her parents with a thousand watt smile. They started a conversation Katie decided she didn’t want to be a part of and turned to disappear into the crowd.

Which was when she ran into Violet. Violet was more or less her cousin, if you counted a HYDRA clone of your uncle as your cousin. Which Katie wholeheartedly did. 

Violet could run as fast if not faster than Tommy, with an eidetic memory that came in handy on missions. Her DNA was almost an exact copy of Tommy's, only slight differences kept her from being a perfect copy. All doctors who'd seen Violet all agreed that these imperfections in her DNA were what kept her off of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s radar for so long, that and HYDRA only sent her out on a few missions.

Which was when she met the Avengers and was rescued. They’d kept her a secret from Tommy until she escaped the tower to find the person she was cloned from. Which was how she met an adult, Tommy. Tommy being an unstable person, in general, didn’t know what to do and ran. Aunt Kate came to the rescue and offered to raise an eleven-year-old Violet in California.

“Katie! You’re here! Thank god because these retired, old people are making me sick. All I want to do right now is see how long it would take some of these guys to realize I've switched most of the alcohol with this fake stuff that pregnant people drink.” Violet received multiple glares from surrounding attendees and pointedly ignored them. Instead, she kept her attention on Katie. 

“I am! I'm still trying to pop my ears from teleporting up here though. Oh, I love this.” Katie gestured to Violet's outfit with approval. Though Vi had lived in California for the last five years she was still as pale as a paper plate. Her hair is pulled back into a ponytail like always while her clothes are loose and flowy.

Vi rolls her eyes before spotting someone over Katie’s shoulder. Her eyes narrow at this mysterious person and before Katie can get in another word she’s run off.

“Awesome. Just fan-fucking-tastic.” Taking a deep breath she pulled out her phone, 6:29 PM it said. Which meant several more hours of this torture. She didn't text her girlfriend in fear she'd wake her up from a nap. Instead, she surveyed the scene and located the kitchen which she prayed had some kind of snack.

Walking to the kitchen Katie had to admit it was a little strange seeing so many heroes in one place. She could see people with more obvious mutations showing off to non-powered spouses. She saw one person setting another’s hair on fire only for their hand to be encased in ice a couple seconds later. 

When she finally got to the kitchen she heard a pair of heroes she didn't recognize talking much too loudly. They were blocking the snack table which presented a very big problem.

"Hey! Aren't you Billy and Teddy's kid?" One said pointing to her with a cracker. A nod was her only response. It prompted the first one to continue on. "I bet your dads are having a hell of a time dealing with your powers aren't they?" The other hero elbows the first in the side with widened eyes as if to say 'shut the fuck up Jeremy'. When the hero she's named Jeremy doesn't shut up the hero she's decided to call Karen whispers something.

Except her whisper is too loud and Katie hears when Karen says 'She doesn't have any powers! They say she's a dud.'. Katie turns on her heel and all but runs from the kitchen.

Spotting a staircase that looks vacant Katie slips past groups of people who looked too drunk to notice a teenager sneaking upstairs. Not that it would’ve mattered anyway. There were probably half a dozen people here that could find her in less than a second. Besides she only wanted peace and quiet for a few minutes.

Luckily Katie found the noise from downstairs muted the farther up she went. The thoughts she's fought hard to suppress come free as Katie finds herself in silence. Glancing around she finds she's reached the top of the stairs. Looking down the hall she sees several rooms that she doubts are completely empty. At the end of the hall is a door with crayon scribbles across the bottom. It draws her in and soon she's standing in front of it with her hand on the doorknob.

If she remembers correctly this is the room she stayed in the last time she visited. The door’s unlocked and soon Katie’s laying down on the bed and staring up at the ceiling with a heavy heart. If she’d had powers would all of this be different? Would she be able to fit in with her dads' friends better? Would she not have to worry as much when her dads left for business and didn’t come home on time?

But then she reminds herself she’d worry about her dads whether she had powers or not. Though if she did then she could help them out. Fight with them. Katie begins to imagine a life where she does have powers. She’s not helpless. Not just a liaison for JARVIS and her team, but a real member. None of her teammates would look at her with pity every time she worries about their health. None of them would walk on eggshells every time the papers don't mention her. 

The images and fake memories in her mind cause tears to fall without permission. Katie attempts to think of something happy to balance out the negative but it doesn't work. Granted it usually doesn't, so she shouldn't be surprised. Her thoughts spiral out as tears continue.

Screw life for not giving her powers. Screw life for making her the most helpless person on her team. Screw life for giving her parents that did everything in their power to make her feel special. Screw life in general. Screw it right in its stupid face. She’s wiping away the tears when she notices the sun start to set. She needs to go downstairs and start the hour-long conversation that’ll eventually get her home.

“Fuck mascara.” She scowls at her mascara covered hand like that was the issue here.

“That’s no language for a young lady.” It’s a man’s voice coming from the window. Katie turns and stares at him for a few seconds. Every cell in her body is on red alert. It’s not the first time she’s been cornered by a possible enemy. Katie knows this won’t be the last either. “Oh don’t worry, I’m an old friend of your dads.”

Katie’s not sure if she believes the man who looks like antelope with those stupid golden horns. A part of her is screaming that she knows about this man. This man dressed in green and gold robes sitting on the windowsill. He practically screams trouble. The man gives off a feeling of deja vu that irks Katie.

“Who are you and how do you know my dads?” His smile falters before widening, she can’t help but compare it to a fox preparing to attack. The man jumps from the windowsill but doesn’t land. He’s floating a couple feet above the ground. Reminding her of the Cheshire cat, which doesn’t her calm down.

“Ah, so I see your parents haven’t mentioned me. What a shame, I did rather like Billy. I wasn’t quite sold on Teddy though he is a loyal bastard.” Katie glares at the man who feels like deja vu and reminds her of the Chesire cat.

“Don’t talk about my dads like that! All it’ll take is one scream and all of the heroes downstairs will come up here and take you down.” His grin grows wider and he floats closer to her. She stands up from the bed and darts to the door.

“It must be terribly frustrating relying on others to save you. Don’t you want to be able to defend yourself with the powers you were born with?” She stops at the door. Her hand is inches from the doorknob. Katie should go through the door. Run downstairs and tell her parents about the strange man in green. Or Aunt Kate or Cassie or even Vi. At the very least she could scream because her instincts are screaming that he’s a bad idea wrapped up with a bow. While her mind begging her to open it up like Pandora and her box.

But he mentioned powers. _Her_ powers. Powers she was _born_ with. She turns to face him.

“I don’t have powers, I was born without them.” She’s watching him carefully. Because if he’s not lying to her… Katie doesn’t want to even think about that right now. That’s when the Cheshire cat smile grows even wider.

“Oh Kathryn, you don’t mind if I call you Kathryn, do you?” Katie’s staring a hole right through his stupid symmetrical face. He rolls his eyes at her. “But your fathers had a wish when you were born. A wish I was very troubled to grant.”

“What wish?” Katie’s throat is burning with unshed tears as she takes a guess at what their wish was.

“I believe we both know what that wish was Kathyrn.” She can feel a migraine starting in the back of her mind. They didn’t do that, there’s no way they would do that to her. “I mean I may have granted that wish, but it was they who stole your powers away the moment you were out of the womb. Before you could even take your first breath. It was quite a sad sight if I’m honest. Taking your powers and wishing them away into a void where you could never find them.”

He’s lying. He’s lying and turning her against her parents. That’s what’s happening. But she can’t find herself caring as the world seems to rush up to meet her. Which is when the world goes black.

 

 

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

 

No sound comes from his shoes when he steps out of the air and next to the girl. He smiles at her unconscious body. He hadn’t expected her to faint, but he welcomed those kinds of surprises with open arms.

 “You’re lucky that I just happened to find them.” He picks her up in his arms with a smile like the Devil before they both disappear in a puff of smoke.

 

 

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

 

Billy admits he may be a little buzzed, but in his defense, it’s been years since he’s drank something stronger than the PTA’s hot chocolate. He’s leaning against Mr. Can’t Get Drunk Because I’m An Alien. They’re talking with Cassie about reliving middle school. It’s kind of a funny conversation if he’s honest.

She asks about what they were doing while she was back in middle school when Violet runs up to them. He smiles at her for a second before he’s realizing he hasn’t seen Katie in a while. The thought doesn’t worry him until he realizes that she’s not with Violet. He feels his heart drop to his stomach as he glances around, looking for Katie. She's not one for parties, never has been, but she's usually begging them to teleport her home by now.

“Hey where’s Katie?” Before he can even finish his sentence Violet’s off and looking for her. She’s back in less than a second and had he been any drunker he wouldn’t have noticed she was gone at all. He lets himself panic for a few seconds before he tries to find her.

“ _Iwanttofindmydaughter. Iwanttofindmydaughter. Iwanttofindmydaughter. Iwanttofindmydaughter.”_ He’s searching through as many places as he thinks she’ll be when a vision of her and a familiar silhouette finally pops up. “Oh shit.” His eyes shoot open and he lets himself panic for a few more seconds.

“Where is she?” It’s Teddy asking as Violet is too busy burning a hole in the floor with her pacing. Billy wants to do a lot of things in that moment. He wants to scream. He wants to yell. He considers curling up into a little ball. He wants to walk right up to him and punch in his stupid face, making him regret ever getting near Katie. “Billy, where's Katie?”

He wants to kill that son of a bitch.

“Loki. Loki has Katie.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “I’m not trying to be rude but she should have powers. Teddy’s half Skrull, half Kree, and Billy’s one of the most powerful mutants in existence. At the very least she should have Skrull or Kree blood, even if she doesn’t have the X-gene. So why doesn’t she have any powers?”
> 
> Teddy swallows and glances at Billy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So here's the next chapter! I must warn it is not edited and to be honest most of these chapters probably won't be, mostly because I just started school again and writing this series is honestly helping me just relieve stress right now. I will probably start editing these stories at a later date though so please enjoy this chapter!
> 
> UPDATE: I have edited this! Finals have driven me to do anything but study and this was the first thing on my to-do list! Enjoy!!!

Violet felt like crying, and screaming, and running away and making something explode and taking a nap all at the same time. Every emotion warring inside of her like a hurricane.

After Billy had located Katie the trail went cold. He’d teleported to where he'd seen Loki and Katie in his vision only to find it deserted. After several hours of searching, they found no trace of Katie. Her muscles ached from checking and re-checking the coast for any sign of the two. The clothes she’d been wearing were one match away from being a bonfire which was a little disappointing but her clothes were the furthest things from her mind.

Teddy and Billy were complete wrecks and had to be talked down from teleporting straight to Asgard and demanding Loki's head. They'd been calling and contacting everyone they could think of to find Katie. This wasn't the first time someone had kidnapped Katie, in fact, it was a common occurrence. The difference this time was that now, it was someone they knew. Someone Billy and Teddy trusted as strange as it sounded. 

After several hours of searching Teddy finally announced that they were benching Violet from searching anymore. They'd teleported back to their headquarters and were minutes away from a meeting to figure out their game plan.

“What do you mean I’m benched?” She stared at the two in disbelief. They couldn’t just do that! Katie was important to her too! Teddy sighed and ran a hand through his hair. Violet knew she should be going easy on them, and she wanted to, but they were being unreasonable!

“Violet this isn’t some mission where we can just send you in without worrying that you'll compromise anything. This is Katie's life at stake here.” He said like that explained everything. “We can’t let people too close to her start working to find her or the person who took her might get exactly what he wants.”  
Violet hated that he was making sense. She hated that in this same situation Katie would be saying the same thing to her own team. Katie had said similar things dozens of times before when Violet wanted to do something reckless. Teddy and Billy headed off to the conference room to talk with their own team about finding Katie. Not quite ignoring her as she listened through the door but not acknowledging her either.

She hates it. 

She finds herself hating it, even more, when her team stumbles out of the elevator breathless and worried. They’re all talking at once and Violet doesn’t know what to do. For once, everything is going too fast for her to comprehend. Katie was always the one to calm everyone down and get them to see the big picture. Katie was more or less the glue that held their ticking time bomb team together.

“Guys! We aren’t going to get anywhere if you all talk at once!” She snaps and everyone around her goes silent. Everyone exchanged nervous glances before Cara steps forward. Out of all of them, she's the most put together. Always approaching the situation like a lawyer would, with tact and a critical eye. Which Violet found ironic since she was blind. 

“We need to find her.” The twins roll their eyes before Jake spoke.

“Well duh but-” Jake starts.

“How are we supposed to find her-” David continues.

“Without any way to track her?” Jake finishes. The twins were the most recent addition to the team. A pair of mutants with the ability to combine and form Mr. Super. A man with super strength, a healing factor, and multiple other abilities Violet didn't care to listen too during Katie's debriefing session. Cara bristles at the twins' statement. Usually, Cara keeps track of the team in long-distance battles, helping everyone find one another again when the smoke clears, but Katie's too far away to locate with her enhanced senses. Violet’s sure that if Cara could glare then she would. The twins sense this and back off. The group falls into an uncomfortable silence.

“We need a plan.” It’s Nash who speaks up next. His face didn’t show how upset he was but his skin did. A layer of frost covering his wrists and working its way up his arms. Violet could feel the temperature drop as he grew more anxious. The adults were yelling in the room behind them and all Violet wanted to was run away to somewhere quieter.

“Let’s discuss what we know versus what we don’t.” Cara said before Katie had come into play Cara had been their leader. She’d been the only one with real experience and the wisest out of the bunch of them. Cara, unfortunately, was also used to working alone, causing several arguments between Violet and Cara whenever she'd go off on her own without telling anyone. It also made everything easier when the group adopted Katie as their new leader. Violet heard a sizzling and glanced to see Ingrid’s hand warming up Nash’s. “But first let’s move somewhere less loud.”

Cara flinched when one of the adults started yelling even louder than the rest. The group moved back to the elevator, they packed in close, and if they happened to stay close to one another after they'd left the elevator, no one mentioned it.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

When she wakes up she’s disoriented. The room surrounding her is dark and she can barely see a few feet in front of her. Katie can feel the wooden bed underneath her hands. She’s never smelled mildew but she has a bad feeling that she is now. When she sits up all her memories crash to the front of her mind. Aunt Kate’s house. A weird man in green. Her powers. A wish. Fainting.  
Shit. Shit, shit, shit, shitty shit, shit. She looks around trying to find a light source of some kind. Which might work better if she could see farther than just a few feet. Blinking she swings her legs off the wooden bed. Thoughts of a trap linger before she can build up her courage enough to get off the bed.

What would dad do? She thinks before her brain helpfully supplies her with Dad would probably teleport away, or shift and probably fly away. Of course, she can’t do either. Letting out a sigh she braces herself against the bed, ready to jump back at a moment’s notice. Luckily the floor’s solid and doesn’t seem to be made of spikes. She takes a shaky breath before putting her full weight on the ground. No arrows shoot from the wall, nor does the floor give out underneath her feet.

So far so good, she thinks taking one step on trembling limbs. For some reason, her body doesn’t feel the same. It’s weaker now, but she can’t tell why. Drugs would keep her drowsy, and she's not. But it doesn't feel like she's been asleep for so long that she's hungry. 

'Your terrified.' A helpful voice in her mind says.

Every step is a struggle but she continues forward. It takes her several steps but soon she’s touching long metal poles. It feels like the door to a cage, but the moment she puts weight on the door it’s swinging open.

'This guy isn’t very good at kidnapping is he.' She steps into the hallway, or what she assumes is a hallway. There's a torch lit up at one end of the hall but it's too far to give her a clear path forward. Katie takes in a deep breath and starts walking forward. Or not walking, but stumbling. She stumbles down the hallway. The light gets brighter and brighter until its moving away from her. She curses. It takes her a whole breath to get out her words now. The air burns in her chest. The world around her burns.

“What did I say about language young lady?” The man is back. He’s floating again when she snarls and throws herself across the hall to try and hit him. “Attacking people is not a good way to make friends sweetie.” His smile is vicious. She misses him and ends up sprawled against the wall. Limbs heavy, air burning, and now probably concussed. Katie finds coherent sentences are too much effort to come up with anymore.

“Who are you? Why are you doing this?” Why’s her mouth so dry? When did it get so dry? Everything around her is spinning too fast.

“Because soon you will come to a decision, and when you do you must have all of the facts.” His Cheshire cat smile is now a shark’s smile. Teeth vicious and eyes glowing green.

“Fuck you.” She stumbles a few more feet before falling on the ground. Katie falls and the cuts on her arms finally reveal herself. The weakness becomes too much she feels content to just lay there and die. He whispers something in Katie’s ear that she barely hears before falling unconscious again.

“Your choice is fast approaching. Decide correctly.”

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

They set up their little ‘conference’ in the training room. Violet quickly gathers a group of chairs and a small table. It’s more cramped than they’re used too but they’ve set up shop in worse locations. Nash’s mind helpfully comes up with a particularly hard mission where Katie had managed to corresponded a conference call on a series of large mountains. At least he didn't have to worry about mountain lions in the training room.

“We know she went missing in California.” Cara starts and she’s sitting at the front of the table. She’s always sat there, even when Katie took over. Violet sites to her right side, there’s an empty space next to her that she doesn’t look at for more than a few seconds. Nash finds that he can’t look either. On the other side of the empty space is Nash.

“We know that Billy found her for a couple seconds.” Violet adds, he knows that she’s going to be okay. Mostly because considering the possibility she’s gone is… Well it’s the reason Nash can’t do more than think beyond the next couple minutes without starting to freeze his chair.

“He, Hulkling, and-” The twins pause for a second. “And Violet, all teleport to where Demiurge had his vision.” The twins are seated across from him and look the least worried. Maybe it’s because they don’t know her very well. Maybe it’s because they aren’t good at showing emotions. He’s not sure but he wishes he could be as calm as they are.

“Where they found no trace of Loki or Katie.” It’s Ingrid who swallows and leans on Nash’s shoulder. Next to Violet Ingrid is the next closest to Katie, they'd flirted on and off for the first couple of months before Katie met her girlfriend. They were on good terms, probably even better terms now that they committed to being friends.

“Well that’s not really true. They found traces of Loki’s magic.” Violet adds fiddling with a bracelet on her wrist. It surprises him that she hasn't run off to find Katie on her own.

“What does that tell us?” Cara asks and suddenly Nash is sent back to a few months prior, back to their first mission without Katie. She’s out sick and no one can reach her so they fall back into old habits. Nash and Ingrid stick together using moves no one else is familiar with. Violet tries to come up with a decent strategy on the run. Cara is following her own plan and by the end of the mission they’re bruised and battered.

No one speaks. The silence is oppressive and keeps each person locked in their own thoughts. Nash can feel the ideas he deems useless start to rack up in his own head.

“Loki needs Katie.” Ingrid whispers. It travels through the room at alarming speeds. Soon everyone’s facing her. She lifts her head off Nash’s shoulder. “Loki hasn’t caused an issue like this in years. His evil side has been dormant for like years. He even has a history with Katie's dads so if he needed something with them he'd just go to them and leave Katie out of it. We all know that Thor would skin him alive for even looking at Katie in the wrong way. So he must really need something from Katie.”

“Yeah, he worked with them against Mother. Mother was an interdimensional parasite who turned the parents into her slaves. She even attacked the original Young Avengers with their parents, some who were even deceased. It was a shit storm, to say the least.” Violet babbled on until her words trickled off and she fell silent. Violet had retained some of Tommy’s memories, leaving her with a world filled with PTSD over events she'd never experienced. Nash doubted she wanted to remember anything from Tommy's past.

“But that doesn’t explain why he took her.” Cara says, she tapped her fingers on the table for a few seconds. Everyone was silent for a few more seconds. “Yes she's their daughter, and yes she's been kidnapped before but only because they want something from Demiurge or Hulkling. She's only ever been used for bait. So why take her now? Katie doesn't even have any powers.” Cara’s question isn’t as desperate as Nash thought they’d be. Each word is carefully thought out before spoken, every syllable selected to bring the most reaction as possible.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

They’ve been arguing for several minutes now and they've gotten nowhere. America suggests they try to contact Darcy who’s been on Asgard working as a correspondent between realms. But Tommy keeps shutting that idea down saying Darcy’s working on a mission and won't be able to help them. Billy’s been sitting in the corner searching viciously for any sign of Katie or Loki. Ignoring much of the conversation going on around him.

“Then we’ll go straight to Thor then, he celebrated Katie’s birth like she was his own kid! He’ll help us find her, especially if it means we get Loki back on track too!” Cassie’s arguing now even though she’d been completely silent up until that point. Tommy rolled his eyes and yelled back. The yells are bouncing off the walls making them even louder. Katie’s team can probably hear them all the way up here. Cara especially.

“Everyone, please be quiet. We’re not going to find Katie arguing like this.” Teddy’s voice is deep and violent, something he saves for villains he really hates. Everyone stops talking and the weariness spreads over the room. They’ve been searching for almost a full day now and no leads have come up. “Loki took Katie for a reason if we figure out that reason we might be able to figure out where she is and rescue her.”

Teddy can practically hear everyone’s thoughts as they try to find a scenario that fits their problem.

“Why doesn’t she have powers?” Everyone’s head whipped towards Cassie. Her small voice echoed in the conference room. The question felt loaded in a way that it hadn't before. As if they could figure out anything from the answer. “I’m not trying to be rude but she should have powers. Teddy’s half Skrull, half Kree, and Billy’s one of the most powerful mutants in existence. At the very least she should have Skrull or Kree blood, even if she doesn’t have the X-gene. So why doesn’t she have any powers?”

Teddy swallows and glances at Billy. He’s still trying to find Katie and isn’t listening to the conversation.

“We don’t know, the doctors thought she would, we thought she would, everyone we talked to about raising Katie thought she would. Then she was born and didn't show any signs of having powers. At first, we thought it would show up after she hit puberty but it never did.” He runs a hand over his face, as if it’ll wipe away all the years of worry and stress. “Even Wanda said we should be extremely careful when raising her. With Billy’s X-gene and my bloodline, she was sure that Katie would have powers even more powerful than Billy’s. God, we were so worried about it.” He flopped down on his chair.

“We had so many discussions about what we were going to do, at one point we even considered trying to take her powers away when she was born, but Billy decided last minute that it was too dangerous for him to try. We didn’t want to risk Katie’s life like that.” Tommy frowned. Kate sat down with her head in her hands. 

“What if Loki took her powers when she was born? He loves to screw with people. What better way to screw with the legacy of two superheroes than to take her powers? Besides, it would explain why he'd take her.” Cassie’s eyes widened and she stood up. “It’s possible he’s trying to get him to work for her. Imagine having no powers and then suddenly getting them dangled in front of your face. She might do whatever he says to get them.” She looks distant. Silence falls over the group again. Teddy hadn’t found out about Cassie’s revival until she’d turned 18 and had shown up to Billy’s birthday party on Kate’s arm.  


It was an emotional birthday, to say the least.

“If that's the case then how are we supposed to find her?” Billy asked, but the room stayed silent.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “They’re an illusion Katie. I don’t know who you’re seeing but they’re an illusion.”
> 
> She can’t tell if he’s just a product of her mind or not.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay so I was just about to post another chapter when I realized I'd labeled this chapter wrong.... Oopsy!  
> Anyway I hope you guys enjoy this chapter!
> 
> UPDATE: I edited this chapter too!!!

Cassie was the one to finally suggest they go to Asgard. She reasoned that if all else failed, then Thor would at least lend them some help finding Katie. With heavy souls, they all agree that it might just be the best option they have.

Billy’s on the verge of collapsing by the time they reach Asgard. It’s still as beautiful as he remembers it being. He’s been here multiple times before, but now the beauty just seems like an illusion. 

They’re teleported straight to Thor, who unfortunately is in the middle of a bath. “Ah! Young heroes of Midgard! I see you have finally accepted my invitation to visit!” His arm gestures are wild and sweeping. Cassie squeaks and shields her eyes with a red face. Even after all this time she’s still the most innocent person on the planet. Thor laughs loudly and stands up. “So, shall we start your tour now or later?” He’s smiling as if nudity is something he does every day, which might be true. The only person’s face who isn’t red is Tommy and Kate’s. Then again Kate’s staring straight ahead while Tommy is curled over laughing.

“We’re not here for a tour. We’re here for Loki.” Billy says with a frown. Thor appears confused and it takes all of Billy's self-control to keep from threatening a god of lightning. “Where is he?”

 

 

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

 

Katie can hear his voice echoing in her head. The tears on her face filled with every word he’s forced on her. The worst part is he hasn’t even touched her, hasn't given her a chance to fight back. If she was still able to fight back. 

Every time she ‘wakes up’ it’s another hallucination. It’s a false scenario with a false outcome. Probably supplied by her subconscious from nights when sleep avoided her grasp. She’s not sure how long it’s been, Katie's lost count of how many scenarios have played out after an especially difficult one involving Virginia. 

“Hello? Is someone else here?” It’s a woman’s voice, one she does not recognize at all. “Hello? M-My name is Morena, I-I don’t know how I got here! Please help!”

Katie curls up into a tighter ball on the wooden bed. She can’t do this again. Not again.

“Hello? Is someone in here?” The woman’s voice is suddenly right in her doorway. “I-I can see you curled up there. Right there on the bed.” Her voice is shaking and Katie feels guilty for not helping. But the thought is unbearable. She’s so weak. She doubts she'll be able to get up again after another round of horrors. “I-I can see you breathing. Who are you? Are you just another trick?”

“I’m not falling for this again. Not after last time.” Katie’s shivering which is new. Usually, everything feels the same, devoid of any type of distinguishing features. But now… “How’d you get out?”

“My door was unlocked. Same as yours.” She replied Katie feels her heart pounding in her throat. If this is another illusion then she’ll just wake up back here. No harm, no foul. “Please, please just come with me, you’re the first person I’ve found that I don't know. Everyone else is someone I know, and we think we're escaping and then... I-I can’t go do that again.”

Katie sucks in a breath. She can feel a cavity on one of her teeth, and for some reason that fills her with hope. If something mundane enough as a cavity is her then maybe this is real.

“Let's go.” She gets up and starts to make her way to the hallway.

 

 

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

 

“What do you mean he’s here?” Billy feels the floor fall out from underneath him. What does he mean? Loki can’t just be here. Not after he stole their little girl. 

“My brother is here. In Asgard, repairing our cells for the prisoners who make the mistake of returning from exile.” He points over his shoulder and grabs a robe from a hook beside him. “We will visit him now. If I must ask, why do you wish to see Loki? Has he fallen back to his old ways?” Thor is leading them down multiple hallways as Teddy explains the situation. Billy is leaning against Tommy for support as they continue down each hallway.

“I will help you find Kathryn. I apologize if my brother has stolen her away. Vengeance of the highest caliber will be brought upon him if these allegations are true.” His normally excitable attitude turns dark. Footsteps thundering down the halls, with a promise of lightning on its way.

It’s several more minutes before they find Loki. He’s standing in the middle of a large room repairing a cell that looks like a glass case. Humming fills the air with a song that Billy knows but cannot place. He’s too angry to even try. 

“Where is she?” Billy asks and Loki turns to face them. His face is still as punchable as it was when he was a teenager.

 

  

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

 

“What the fuck even is this place?” Katie asks as they stumble through a brighter hallway. Her and Morena have been hanging on one another to get through the halls.

Each hall is unlike any warehouse or dungeon she’s ever seen. The stone walls are asylum beige with large dents a few feet above the ground. As if someone jumped and threw themselves against the walls millions of times. Long scratches start at the ceiling and fade until they’re barely visible near the floor. Cell doors are covered in chipping white paint, while stains that are questionable at best cover the linoleum floor.

“I’m not sure, but please don’t cuss. I really don't like it.” Morena replies after flinching away from Katie. She nods and she’s reminded of Loki’s habit of showing up whenever she cursed. Where was he now? Not only had she cursed but she’d also been out of her cell for several minutes longer than normal. He always showed up soon after she left the safety of her cell.

So, where was he?

 

 

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

 

One-minute Loki’s building the cells, and the next he’s being slammed up against the wall. Billy’s glaring at him but doesn’t flinch as Teddy slams Loki into the wall once again. Thor doesn’t move from his spot while Kate jumps into action. 

“Teddy, you can’t just attack him like that!” She’s trying to pull his arm back but can’t. He’s too strong. Kate’s not sure where Tommy’s at but he’s not helping. Cassie’s too busy keeping Billy standing to do much else while Kate struggles to keep Loki breathing.

Loki is the only calm one here. Though he’s struggling for air, he doesn’t fight back. If Kate knew any better she would think this was Loki luring them into a trap. Which turned out to be not that far off.

In the next five seconds Kate finds herself sprawled on the ground with Teddy a few feet behind her. Billy and Cassie are toppled over like a pair of dominos. Thor is the only one still standing, his face stone cold and upset. On the other side of the room is Loki, head slumped against the wall. Logically he’s a god, which means there’s a good chance he’s not dead but Kate’s too worried to listen to her logic.

“Teddy! What the hell dude! He can't exactly tell us where Katie is if he's dead!" Teddy flinches away from Kate but doesn't apologize. Thor makes a comment about how it would take much more than that to kill Loki but he still doesn't get up from the ground.

“I think I may know where Kathryn is.” His voice sounds pained as he wipes the blood from his bottom lip. Kate wants to scream in relief.

 

 

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

 

Nothing is making sense. 

Katie and Morena are now in a large ballroom. The ceiling is at least a story above her and made of colored glass. The glass is formed into pictures that start to tell a story. The story disturbs her more than she thought it would.

Skeletons line the floor with rattling dances, while a pair of them watch over the crowd in a crown and tiara. One human watches over all of them several feet up in the air. She’s bathed in a green light, hair golden above the startlingly white creatures underneath her. Her clothes are dark green and seductive compared to the medieval clothes that the skeletons are wearing. Something about her is malevolent, drowning Katie in her stormy blue eyes.

In the other picture, the same blonde woman is standing behind a group of people, two boys, and three girls. All wearing the same color of dark purple that the woman is now wearing. Katie can feel a contentedness with this picture. Something about her is duller than the one in green and for a second the first mosaic appears to spark with a power while the other grows dimmer. 

The ballroom itself is huge. Katie notices a few balconies with abandoned chairs and cobwebs above them. Like someone’s watching her, ready to attack. The thought makes her shiver.

“Well look what the cat dragged in.” Morena freezes. Katie too. Why did he let her get so far? Why couldn’t he just let her go? She knows he’s behind her but she doesn’t want to turn around.

“Katie? Katie sweetheart is that you?” She turns on a dime. That’s her dad, standing behind Loki with an unbelieving smile. Like he's seeing something worth thousands of smiles and millions of tears. Tears rush to her eyes and the air is burning again. She can’t breathe, she can’t breathe. Why can’t she breathe? Why does the air burn?

"Daddy?" The childish response brings tears to her dad's eyes and all Katie wants to do is run to him. Hide in his cape like she did when she didn't quite understand what powers were, or the disappointment that came packaged with her lack of them. 

“They’re an illusion, Katie. I don’t know who you’re seeing right now but they’re an illusion.” Billy frowns at Morena, he can hear her. She can’t tell if he’s just a product of her mind or not. Morena is only looking at her though, which only confuses her further. “Katie, Katie come on, if he gets to you again then we both lose.” 

Billy’s glaring at Morena now. His face is hard, like on the nights he’d come home after a hard mission and wouldn’t talk to her or Teddy. Or when something bad happens and he can't change it like he wants too. She hates seeing his face like that.

“Dad is that really you?” His face softens. Gaze falling back to her, away from Morena. He’s wearing the same clothes from the night she disappeared. Which meant she hadn’t been gone for very long then, even though it felt like an eternity. “Dad, please tell me what he's saying isn’t true. Please.”

He glares at Morena.

“What’s he saying? What has he told you?” Guilt. That’s guilt in his voice. She can hear it. She knows she can hear it. Or she’s pretty sure she can hear it. Everything's sitting on the edge of a cliff and Katie can't reach it fast enough to figure out which she needs to save.

“You did do it didn’t you? Y-You wished my powers away. When I was born and they weren’t there you were _happy_ weren’t you!” Katie’s not sure where the words are coming from but they’re bubbling out and she cannot make them stop. She doesn’t think she wants them to stop.

“They did nothing like that Kathryn.” Loki’s talking again and she feels herself flinch away. For a second she thinks he looks hurt.

Morena attempts to pull her in closer. Katie launches herself away from Morena. She can’t take it anymore. She can’t be near people anymore. She stumbles for a few seconds before righting herself and glancing at the everyone else.

“N-No, no one come over here, no one get near me. I still don’t know who’s real, a-and who’s not, and I can’t do it. Not right now.” She can hear something start to crack. Though she can’t tell if it’s real or not. “So no one come near me until I can figure this out.”

“Oh, sweetheart, you know who to trust.” Morena says, she takes a step towards Katie and the cracking gets louder. Her image starts to flicker and suddenly Morena is blonde and beautiful and Billy gasps. “You know who to trust. You know you want to trust me. You know that’s what you want.”

_ Her smile is like sunshine,  _ Katie thinks and nods at Morena.

“You want your powers, right?” Katie nods again. The air is still burning but somehow she’s still standing. “Trust me, and you can have them, they’re right here.” She holds out a locket to Katie. It’s shining yellow and gold, it’s the prettiest thing Katie’s ever seen.

“Choose me, and they’re all yours.” Katie’s snapped out of her daze. Morena’s smile is not like sunshine, it’s like a Cheshire cat’s. Her eyes are now green and glowing. The cracking gets louder until suddenly the glass breaks above them. Three of the four turn their hands upwards and uses magic to keep the glass from falling onto them.

Katie shoots forward and grabs the locket. She stumbles again and falls with the locket in her grasp. Glass hits her skin and all she wants to do is scream. When she hits the ground the locket shatters and shrieking fills her ears.

Everything goes black.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “So you’re a clo-” 
> 
> “No. I’m not a clone. My name is Kathryn Altman-Kaplan, and I’m your daughter.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So we finally have the real Chapter 4! This took me a couple more days to write thanks to the great establishment that is school and my own procrastination. I really, really, hope you guys like this chapter and I'd really appreciate some comments to help motivate me!!! Anyways, I hope you enjoy!

It all starts with Katie’s text.

**_Lovebug_ **

I’m like actually sure my parents are trying to fill up all of my sleeping time with activities T-T

**_Me_ **

Oh?

Well if someone just went to sleep at a normal time you wouldn’t have this problem would you?

**_Lovebug_ **

Babe

Sweetheart

Love of my life

Sugar-lips

Don’t shame me

**_Me_ **

I’ll stop shaming you when you start sleeping like a regular person <3

**_Lovebug_ **

I think we both know that’s not gonna happen

ALSO

Depending on how many people I know here you’ll either receive a bunch or less than a bunch of texts from me.

Probably the first one tho

**_Me_ **

Okay, well I’ll be free all night so text as much as you want.

 

Which was when the texts stopped. At first, she’d assumed Katie had found someone to talk to, or she’d lost service, or her phone had died. Though she doubted it was the last option.

But Virginia didn’t worry. It was normal to have someone not text you back, did she want an explanation as to why Katie wasn’t texting her back? Yes. Did it worry her that Katie wasn’t texting at all? Of course, but it wasn’t the first and at the time she knew it wouldn’t be the last time Katie didn’t text back right away.

So, instead of worrying she sat herself down at her desk and worked on homework until she went to bed. Virginia sent off a Good Night text before falling asleep.

The next morning was when she really started to panic.

Checking her phone she noticed Katie hadn’t read her last couple texts. A scratching raw feeling started at the bottom of her stomach as she sent off another quick text before getting ready for school.

The realization that something is very, _very,_ wrong crashes onto her like a tidal wave when she arrives to her first class. Because she was used to radio silence from Katie. It just happened sometimes. Katie didn’t, or couldn’t speak to her for a little bit before she came back with a plausible excuse to explain her absence. It wasn’t this. It wasn’t a promise to send texts before completely disappearing and not answering her calls and then not showing up for any of her classes the next day.

It doesn’t help that Violet also hasn’t shown up for school. While her absences are less noticeable than Katie’s, she’s a serial class skipper, but now the absence is like a gaping hole in any explanation that Katie’s just sick and by some miraculous circumstance is also forgetting to charge her phone.

As the lunch bell rings she’s quick to slip out through the janitors office and through his exit. It’s not the best smelling plan but it’s bound to keep her from getting caught. Slipping outside she dashes across the parking lot to her car. She glances around to make sure no one can see her as she gets into her car and drives off.

She’s not sure what she’s going to find when she gets to Katie’s house, but she hopes its answers.

 

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

 

Katie’s beginning to understand how much passing out sucks. Especially when she passes out in one place and wakes up somewhere else. Instead of the wooden bed she’s used to she’s laying on a regular bed.

Well she thinks it’s a regular bed until she realizes there is someone laying down next to her. Her breath hitches as she feels an arm tighten around her stomach. Katie takes a deep breath before glancing around the room. It looks like a boy’s room, comics scattered across the room and a hamper with clothes mostly hanging out of it rather than inside of it. Dark blue walls make the various superhero posters stand out. There’s a few of Captain America, one of Ironman, and multiple posters of the Scarlet Witch. Katie sighs, at least something is familiar. Now all she has to do is find her grandma and get home.

Which is when the body next to her wakes up.

Everything happens extremely fast after that point. The body next to her wakes up half confused, half panicked. Katie jumps out of the bed. She sees a shocked boy on the bed. The boy yells something she doesn’t understand before she sees an open window. Now she has a goal, but so does the boy. He jumps at her and tackles her to the ground. They wrestle for a few seconds before suddenly there are two boys, identical except for the shock of white hair.

The white-haired boy distracts the other boy, giving Katie a chance to escape. She brings up her knee as hard as possible and pushes the boy off her. She launches herself at the open window. She’s halfway out of the window when she finds the white-haired boy has ahold of her ankle.

“Let me go!” She yells and for a second his face softens, Katie can see him considering letting her go when the other boy yells.

“Tommy don’t!” Tommy? Does that mean? Katie glances up at the boy holding her. The white hair matches, so do the eyes, but why’s he so young? It doesn’t make sense. Then again Katie can count on one hand everything that’s made sense in the last couple of hours. “Pull her back up!”

She’s being pulled back through the window at an unreal speed. Katie hits her head off the windowsill and curses as she pulls herself up. Tommy’s standing in front of her, ready to dive out the window or tackle her. The other boy is sitting in the middle of the room curled up. When he finally looks up at her she wants to cry.

“Fuck, _fuck._ ” Her voice cracks and that’s the last straw. She’s bawling in her dad’s childhood bedroom with her not-yet-dad.

“What’s happening! I heard- Who’s the girl?” It’s a new voice this time, probably as confused as the rest of them. Katie has a pretty good idea who it is but forces herself to look up anyway. In the doorway Teddy stands with a towel in one hand, ready to attack the nearest water monster. He looks younger, so much younger than Katie has seen.

“ _Fuck._ Nothing is ever going to make sense, is it?” She knows she’s babbling, but she can’t stop it. The last few hours, or days, or however long it’s been, has been the longest days she’s ever experienced. “Like what’s next? I just cease to exist altogether? Probably, knowing my fucking luck that’s exactly what’s going to happen. _Fuck.”_ They’re all staring at Katie, eyes wide and mouths open. None of them say a word until Billy speaks.

“Who are you?” He’s the only one who’s managed to process her appearance.

“My name is Katie Altman. I mean not Altman.” She nervously glances at Teddy before stuttering out a response. They all caught her mistake.

“Are you a Skrull or a Kree? Because no matter what you are you’re not taking Teddy away from us. We fought you once, and we will fight you again.” Billy’s standing now, looking braver than he probably feels. Dad told her that was how he got through most of his teen years, looking braver than he felt. Teddy’s face is turning green as he begins to grow. Katie needs to disarm the situation now.

“No, no, no, no, I mean technically yes? I-I’m both, partially, my-” She takes a deep breath. _Come on, Katie, just be calm, be braver than you feel._ She thinks to herself before straightening up. “I am both Skrull and Kree, at least half anyway, the other half is mutant, give or take some percentages.” She definitely sounds braver than she feels right now.

“So you’re a clo-” Billy starts to ask, but Katie interrupts him.

“No. I’m not a clone. My name is Kathryn Altman-Kaplan, and I’m your daughter.”

 

 

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

 

Half an hour later she’s looked through every inch of Katie’s house and she’s found nothing.

“What the hell!” Virginia taps her foot impatiently as she looks over the room again. She’s been through every single part of Katie’s room twice now, and still nothing. She checks her phone for the fiftieth time in the last three minutes when she hears a crash from downstairs. Virginia’s about to call out and explain herself when a voice she doesn’t recognize calls out first.

“We know you’re here! And if you have any information on Katie Altman-Kaplan we need you to tell us!” The voice was deep and obviously an adult’s, but she didn’t recognize it. Acting on instinct she runs to the window and shoves it open before forcing herself out. While ballet flats aren’t the best climbing shoes she makes due. In a matter of seconds, she’s on the ground and running out and into the street.

“Hey! Who’re you?” Someone yells and she doesn’t give them a second glance before dashing off in the opposite direction. Footsteps sound off behind her and she’s suddenly grateful her parents insisted she join the cross-country team. “Hey! Girl! Slow down!” She doesn’t slow down. If anything she speeds up.

Turning at the end of the street Virginia shoots down the road until she spots an alleyway.

“Perfect.” Full speed she darts towards it. Only to find it’s already occupied.

“No, we can’t just- Virginia? What’re you doing here?” Violet is bent over a large crate with what looks like an old notebook and a blind girl next to her. She doesn’t look in any way surprised that Virginia’s running in her school uniform, or that the people chasing her are getting closer.

“We have to go, like now! I was just at Katie’s and some man was in there and some people started chasing me and-” Violet nods before chuckling. The blind girl even cracks a smile as Violet falls onto the crate, laughter wracking her body.

When Violet begins to calm down she also starts explaining. It’s almost another half hour later before Virginia’s heard the whole story, including a very quick identity reveal for Teddy and Billy which Virginia had already expected, and had time to process it. All the while Ingrid and Nash are standing watch at the end of the alleyway to prevent anymore citizens from coming into the alley and interrupting their planning session.

“So, we don’t know where she is, or why she’s there, or how to get her back because the powers she was supposed to have as a child are camouflaging her because she feels threatened?” Her voice is cold and upset when she finally speaks. The blind girl who introduced herself as Daredevil nods while Violet gives her a sad look. “And the adults just let you run off?”

“Pretty much.” Violet replies before a scowling Virginia jumps to her feet and pulls out her phone. She types in a number before bringing the phone up to her ear.

“Hey mom I’m gonna be staying the night at Vi’s tonight. She has a really important presentation tomorrow and wants me and Katie over to help her with last minute stuff. Yes, I promise Katie and I won’t get into any kind of shenanigans. I love you too, see you tomorrow.” The conversation ends as abruptly as it started and Virginia’s stomping towards the other end of the alleyway.

“Where are you going?” Violet yells watching Virginia walk with a purpose that she’s only seen in comics. Not missing a beat Virginia spins back towards her, still walking, and yells back.

“I’m going to go rescue my girlfriend from her and her parent’s dumbass decisions. Come if you want!”


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “You shouldn’t be here, it’s too dangerous. JARVIS call the, I’m sorry what’s your last name?” 
> 
> “I’ve met you like over a dozen times and you don’t remember my last name?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay so a few things
> 
> 1\. School has been stressful and has kept me from writing as much as I want to so I apologize for that
> 
> 2\. I've got an end in mind but it might be a couple chapters before we actually get there
> 
> 3\. I really appreciate the kudos and would love to chat with the couple of people who're keeping up with this story because seeing you guys' kudos actually gives me the determination to write!!
> 
> 4\. I veer away from some of the canon events in this story, consider yourselves warned.

Billy’s sitting alone in the conference room when he gets the call that a teenage girl was caught sneaking into the Avengers tower. He’s walking down the hallway with a major migraine when he hears Virginia trying to unscrew a ventilation shaft in their ‘kids who’ve tried to sneak in’ room.

In fact, she’s halfway into the vent when he enters the room.

“What are you doing?” He asks seeing her legs sticking out of the vent. A few seconds later she’s awkwardly crawling out of the vent covered in cobwebs.

“I came here to help get Katie back.” Virginia says throwing back her shoulders. It only makes her a little intimidating but Billy’s face scarier things than a teenage girl in over her head. Especially when she’s covered in cobwebs.

“You shouldn’t be here, it’s too dangerous. JARVIS call the, I’m sorry what’s your last name?” It doesn’t occur to him that she’s here, talking to him like he’s not dressed up in his hero outfit. Like he’s telling her that Katie’s still not back from summer camp.

“I’ve met you like over a dozen times and you don’t remember my last name?” She raises an eyebrow and Billy’s pretty sure he learned her last name at some point, but with the growing stress nothing is popping up in his head.

“This is not a conversation we’re having after you attempted to-” She interrupted him with a frown.

“I didn’t attempt to break in, I succeeded in breaking in. And I didn’t break in, I just had to persuade my way into a building I didn’t originally have access to.” She looks proud of herself. Billy feels like his head is going to explode. Where had his daughter even found this girl? Because he’s pretty sure she picked her out just to give him this headache. “But that’s not the point. The point is I’m here to help you get Katie back where she belongs.”

Billy looks at her. She’s wearing a school uniform with torn tights and scuffed black boots. Cobwebs are stuck in her hair and tights. But when he looks at her face there’s something familiar in the way she stares back at him. No hesitance, even though she’s clearly terrified.

He wonders when teenagers became so insistent on throwing themselves into danger. It’s ironic, he’s well aware, that he’s so against involving teens who are doing the same thing he used to do, but he couldn’t stand to watch someone like Katie get hurt. Especially after losing Katie.

He flops down on the sofa they kept in there for the kids and shields his eyes. It’s times like these he wonders if everything would’ve been simpler if he’d never had powers. If he’d just given them away to whatever evil power had attacked them when they were teenagers. He felt the couch dip and Virginia began to speak.

“I know that I shouldn’t know about any of this but I do, and I know it’s not safe for me to be here, but _I am._ I want to help. I don’t care if it’s just making coffee, or just sitting around distracting everyone. But I need to be here doing _something_. That or I can go home and fail to pretend that nothing’s wrong and feel even worse because I’m not doing anything to help.” Billy hates that he can relate to her words. That he can even pinpoint days where the same weight pulled him down into a feeling worse than being burned alive. He hates that he’d be doing the exact same thing she is if the roles had been reversed.

He hates that a small part of him is relieved.

Billy would be lying if he said that he hadn’t thought about what they’d do if they found Katie dead, or even worse, if they didn’t find her at all. When his thoughts landed on telling Virginia his stomach always dropped. What if she reacted badly? What if she didn’t react at all? What if she reacted positively?

But now he knew how she’d react. Because she already had. She’d known something was wrong, and instead of letting someone else handle it she went out to face it herself.

“Okay.” He scrubs a hand over his face and looks at her. Virginia’s face is a mix of emotions that Billy understands too well. Her fists are white knuckled at her sides. “But you need to stay in the building with the Junior team.” Her face scrunched up. “What?”

“If I had to guess, the Junior team consists of a blind girl, Vi, a red headed boy, a blondie with a hijab, and a knockoff Shazam. And if I had to make another guess they might be stationed a few blocks away from your house in an alleyway.” She admitted with a small smile.

Billy had a horrible feeling that her ‘guess’ is very accurate.

 

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

 

Cara found herself liking the new girl.

She wasn’t technically the new girl, yet. But Cara knew that this girl would be sucked into the superhero business one way or another. The way she was suggesting they ‘help out’ the adults, even though the adults didn’t want their help, made it clear.

“How would we help them? I think they’ve made it clear they don’t want or need our help.” She responds when new girl suggests they ‘help out’. The other members of her team are annoyed with Cara already, she can tell by the groans and heart beats. New girl isn’t deterred though.

“We force them to, we join their mission, and make them accept that we aren’t leaving.” New girl shoots back, not even slightly annoyed. If anything Cara’s objection has made her resolution stronger.

Cara really likes this new girl.

“Demiurge is the most powerful magic being known to most beings, he could easily just poof us away.” New girl seems to ponder this in silent while Cara receives glares from her teammates. At least she’s pretty sure she’s on the receiving end of her teammates glares.

“But he’s also human, kinda, what I mean is that like everyone else here.” Cara can tell by the silence New girl has just gestured to everyone. “He has emotions. I mean, he didn’t even put up that big of a fight after I snuck in here. So I’m pretty sure he wouldn’t fight too much if we just joined their mission.”

Cara has never gotten along with other people very well. Even back when she was a baby all she wanted was to sleep, but new girl? She liked new girl almost instantly. From the moment she admitted she’d ratted them out in order to get them all in one place. Because new girl was honest, and smart, and a hell of a good leader.

“Let’s go then.”

 

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

 

Billy glances nervously at the girl who’s claiming to be his daughter. She’s playing with a golden locket while sitting inside of an observation cell.

His first choice had just been to go to Doctor Strange and figure out how to send her back to wherever she’d come from. While Tommy suggested they keep her under lock and key until they figured out her powers. Teddy of course was torn between those options. Billy understood Teddy and Tommy’s hesitance to trust her.

It was only a few months prior that Teddy’s fake mother had been killed. Then the whole incident where Cassie’s dad came back and Cassie herself had almost died. Things were still hectic and this girl coming out of nowhere and claiming to be his daughter did not help anything.

“I still don’t feel right about locking her up.” He admits leaning against the wall while Teddy and Tommy watch the security footage carefully. They’d snuck into the Avenger’s mansion while the rest of the Avengers were away on a mission or something. JARVIS knew, of course, that they were there but agreed to keep ‘Katie’ a secret unless something dangerous happened.

“What else are we supposed to do? Believe that crazy chick really is you and loverboy’s kid? I mean all she gave us were your names.” Tommy retorted jerking his thumb over his shoulder at the screen. In the half hour they’d watched her, she hadn’t done much besides just play with the locket.

It’s only the reminder that ‘Katie’ claimed she was Teddy and Billy’s daughter that had Billy blushing. Neither of them were virgins, there was only so long a relationship between two teenage boys could last before that card was punched; and it wasn’t as if Billy had never thought of a future between himself and Teddy. But a kid? How did that even work?

Had Billy magicked her into existence like his mom had done to him? Or maybe Teddy had carried her?

Every thought was worse than the last until he was brought back into reality by JARVIS’s voice.

“Tony and Steve are expected to land in fifteen minutes. I would advise you to come up with a plan before they do.” He warns, and Billy has never been more grateful for JARVIS before in his life.

“I vote we call Strange, I mean, what else can we do?” Billy says and Teddy nods, while Tommy on the other hand doesn’t look convinced. He chews on his lip for a few seconds, as if he’s contemplating their choices before nodding.

 

It’s half an hour later before Strange shows up. By this time both Steve and Tony are aware of their situation, and have reluctantly agreed to listen to what Strange says. They’ve already explained the situation to Strange so when he arrives he jumps into action, kind of. Strange spends a few minutes just staring at the screen before saying anything.

“She’s definitely not from this universe, and while she does claim to be your daughter she’s not giving off any magical energy. But it appears the locket she’s holding is.” Which leaves them with only a little more information than they started with. Billy groans and leans into Teddy, all he wanted to do was sleep in, and enjoy the fact that most of his family wasn’t going to be there to psychoanalyze any of them.

But what did he get? A girl who may or may not be his daughter. Great. Just Great.

 

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

 

She sits in a room just far enough away from the activity. She can’t hear anything beyond what gargled talk comes through the vents. They put her in a magic proof cell which does not help her mood.

“I thought you were happy as a ruler of your own realm. We were quite content to allow you to stay that way, so why come back?” Loki asks outside of her cell. He appears tired, as if her presence is enough to age him. She smirks.

“Why have one realm when you can have two?” She replies and his face hardens, he’s ‘turned over a new leaf’ since she’s been gone, and she can sense his anger at her reappearance. It only makes her homecoming that much better. “How is your search for Kathryn going? I assume bad after your ‘betrayal’.”

He glares at her. She knows that her plot had almost worked perfectly, she almost had the brat convinced that no one but herself could be trusted.

“I swear on my life that after Kathryn is returned I will bring you back to Asgard to let Thor deal with you himself.” Her smirk fades. While her plan has not gone perfectly there is still a chance she can save it.

“I can tell you where she is.”

 


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “How did they meet?”
> 
> “Dad got stuffed in dad’s locker. Well Billy specifically got stuffed into a locker, it’s just like weird to call them by their real names you know? Like who the hell calls their parents by their real names?”

The magic proof cell door opens. Katie glances up and almost shouts for joy before she realizes the Dr. Strange she’s seeing isn’t the one she knows.

“Your name is Katie right?” He asks sitting across from her on the floor. She knows what he’s doing, it only took her a minute to spot the camera in the corner. They’ve been watching her.

“Yes. Your name is Stephen. Dad always tells me I should call you Dr. Strange, or Strange.” She’s only a little upset that Stephen’s presence is calming her. While he’s not as young as this one, Katie’s relieved that this Stephen is almost the same as her own. He looks a little taken aback before nodding and continuing.

“What’s your last name?” He asks looking at her like she’s insane, which she definitely is, but not in the way he thinks.

“Altman-Kaplan.” She replies stubbornly, it makes him frown so she adds onto her statement. “Dads say I can always choose to go by either one but I’m proud of where I come from. It annoys the hell out of my teachers though, one of them tried to make me go by one or the other. I told him that, that wasn’t going to happen, so he called dad. It was pretty funny.” She laughs at the memory. Seeing her dad, huge and blonde, who had put in some of his old ear cuffs in, walk into a meeting between her, the teacher, and the principal. The teacher almost shit himself and quickly agreed to say her full name from then on.

Stephen is quiet for a few seconds before speaking again. As if he’s choosing his words carefully as to not set her off.

“Do you mind if I ask you some questions about your dads?” She nods, though she’s not an expert on her parents she knows enough to prove that she’s their daughter. “How did they meet?” She laughs.

“Dad got stuffed in dad’s locker. Well Billy specifically got stuffed into a locker, it’s just like weird to call them by their real names you know? Like who the hell calls their parents by their real names?” She scrunches up her face in disgust before going on. “But dad, I mean Teddy, Teddy opened his locker to find Billy stuffed in there. That’s not when they started dating, or even started talking but it’s how they met.” She remembers the first time her dads told her that story. They were slightly buzzed and they’d all stayed up late making fun of bad Christmas movies.

“And how long have they been together?” He asks leaning towards her. Katie’s very aware that even if anyone else can hear their conversation Stephen’s telepathically asking Billy and Teddy if her stories check out. Which will bad if their timelines are too different.

She hopes that’s not the case.

 

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

 

Billy is the first to interrogate her. He lasts the longest and is only taken away when he begins to crackle with uncontrolled magic. Teddy goes in next and only lasts a few minutes before his temper has gotten the best of him. A few others come in but they leave almost as quickly.

Violet knows that she must be feeling all high and mighty right now. Thinking that she has the upper hand. But it won’t last long, not if her team has any say in it.

They initiate their plan when all the adults gather back up in the conference room. Violet and Cara are stationed outside of the door while Nash and Ingrid are sent into the room. Virginia’s sitting in the training room listening through their coms, she’s the only one without any training, and unintentionally takes over the liaison position.

“Hello.” Nash is the first to speak. Violet can barely hear what’s being said through the locked door but Cara can. She nods as the conversation starts and Violet relays her nods to everyone else on the team. Cara’s job is to be a human lie detector, which she’d always been, but now her talents were too important to their mission.

After a few minutes Cara’s face scrunches up, Violet can just make out a loud gasp from inside the room. She’s confused. What’s happening?

Seconds later Nash and Ingrid are out of the room and walking purposely towards the conference room. Cara is following them closely. For a second Violet is worried that Amora has somehow persuaded them to let her go. A quick check inside shows her that not only is Amora still in her cell, but she looks furious.

“What’s happening? Violet what are they doing?” Virginia’s voice is the only thing that breaks her trance.

“I don’t know, Cara just like scrunched up her face and then Nagrid-” Virginia interrupts her.

“Who’s Nagrid?”

“Nash and Ingrid.” Virginia’s quiet for a few seconds before sighing. Violet takes this as a sign to go on. “They just bolted from the room and started walking towards the conference room. But Amora’s not free, and she looks pretty pissed off.”

Amora says something Violet doesn’t listen too when the adults are suddenly storming down the hallway. Billy’s giving harsh directions while Nagrid is trailing behind them. Cara is nowhere to be seen. Violet’s on the verge of bolting when Tommy appears.

“Shit.” She murmurs glancing around knowing she’s not getting out of this. It’s been months since Tommy and herself have even been in the same room, and his terrible habit of not acknowledging her always makes it awkward.

“Violet, get out of that room.” Billy yells slamming the door shut with his powers. Violet jumps away from the door and Virginia goes silent on the other side of the com. “And get Virginia. We know where Katie is.”

 

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

 

“Do you believe her?” Steve asks after Strange came back from questioning Katie. Teddy finds himself believing Katie, while her stories don’t exactly match up with what they’ve experienced it sounds real. So much so that his head hurts with how much her stories almost match their own.

“I’m not sure, she seems to be telling the truth, but the locket doesn’t reassure me. It’s emitting a strange energy, I’ve never encountered before, a mix of Asgardian and mutant, and something else I can’t pinpoint.” He’s frowning to himself which doesn’t seem like a good sign. Billy groans into Teddy’s side. Teddy tightens his arm around Billy’s waist as they stay silent.

They all remain silent for a few seconds before Tommy bursts.

“So, what are we doing then? Because we can’t just lock her up forever.” His leg is practically bouncing in response to his lack of frantic movement. Tommy’s never could stand still, making his attempts that more impressive.

The room falls silent again.

“I believe her.” Teddy said and Billy moved his head off Teddy’s chest and nodded. The longer Teddy thought about and considered the idea of having a daughter who’d somehow traveled across universes, the more it made sense. In fact, it sounded like something Billy would do. Or Tommy. That didn’t prove that she was their daughter, but it made sense.

“I, for one, don’t believe it.” Tony said and Teddy could feel Billy tense up. Tommy shot Tony a glare and Steve even elbowed him. Billy barely suppressed a laugh as Tony hunched over. Dr. Strange nodded in agreement, he was the only one to stay on topic.

“I agree with you two, but we should still proceed with caution. Especially since we have no clue how she got here, and that locket still concerns me.” Dr. Strange says watching Katie on the screen. Teddy’s eyes linger on her for a few seconds.

He can see Billy in Katie. She has his nose, as well as his eyes. The same spark he’d noticed when he’d first met Billy. Her nervous tapping is also so Billy-esc.

“Sir, we have a slight problem at the front gate.” JARVIS interrupts their silence. The AI sounded borderline nervous, Tony picked up on this right away.

“What’s the problem?” He replies still a bit phased by Steve’s elbow.

“Sir, I believe you should check this out for yourself.” A holographic screen pops up in the middle of the screen to show a group of adults and a few kids his own age standing at the gates. It takes Teddy a minute to notice someone who looks a lot like himself before Tony’s swiping away at the screen and activating protocols.

“JARVIS, activate protocols two, seventeen, and forty-two.” He says frowning at a new screen that has popped up to his left. Teddy tightens his grip on Billy’s waist as Tony’s face turns more and more upset. “What the hell, how are they doing this?” Several emojis pop on screen and laughter blasts through the speakers. The screen is popping up again showing the group minus a few of the teenagers.

Before Teddy’s fully aware of what’s happening, Tommy has sped from the room and is back holding onto the collar of a girl with matching white hair. She’s an inch shorter than Tommy and she’s frowning like she was the first one found in a game of hide and seek.

“I saw her run past the door.” He explains nodding to the doorway. The girl rolls her eye in a very Tommy-like motion before her eyes lock onto the screen showing Katie. Her face grows angry as she glances from each of the people in the room.

“Who are-” Tony’s interrupted by the girl who’s now furiously gesturing to the screen showing Katie.

“You locked her up? What the hell, I mean I understand you locking her up.” She gestures to Tony and Steve before glaring at Teddy and Billy. “But you guys? I mean out of everyone here I thought you guys would understand what it’s like to be locked up like this.” She says a few more things too fast for Teddy to understand before a blast is heard from the front of the building. The aftermath rumbles through the building and everyone reaches for something to hang onto. Tony curses.

“They just blew up the front of the building!” He exclaimed looking at a different screen.

“That’s what you get for locking her up!” On the screen Katie’s glancing around the room, Teddy has no doubts that she heard and felt the explosion too. “Now you’ll have to deal with the someone you really, really don’t want to piss off.” She’s smiling, it’s a vengeful smile but still a smile. Teddy’s a little terrified as he begins to shift into Hulkling. He can feel Billy begin to crackle with energy next to him as the screen showing Katie goes black.

Footsteps sound before suddenly the room widens and electricity is crackling through everything around them. It’s familiar in a way he can’t place. The group from outside enters the room and Teddy realizes why it’s so familiar.

“I want my daughter back, and I want her back now.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bad news: This isn't edited, and probably really sucks.  
> Good news: I've almost finished this story and will have the last few chapters posted as soon as I finish up the ending!  
> Also thank you so much for your comments and kudos, it literally means the world to me.


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> She has everyone’s attention again. All their attention. Misplaced glares, and clenched fists, and all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Jeez louis I cannot remember the last time I posted, mostly because life has been super hectic. But here's the next chapter! Thank you for reading and leaving comments! Those things make my day!

Katie’s terrified. The lights have gone out after the building shook. She can’t tell if they’re being attacked or if she’s being rescued or what’s happening.

A little voice in the back of her mind is telling her to open the locket and investigate. But she doesn’t want to. She knows that if she opens the locket something bad will happen. She knows if she gives in that it will only end badly. But knowing all these things doesn’t satisfy her curiosity.

Instead she stands up. Using what she remembers about the room she makes her way to where she thinks the door is. It’s high tech and only seemed to be activated when someone from the outside inputted a code. But now that the power’s out she’s able to get it open after a few minutes of pushing and pulling.

Now she’s in a hallway. For a second she’s frozen in place. It’s too familiar and Katie’s half sure she’ll wake up back in that wooden bed. That none of this is real and no matter what she does she’ll be stuck running down hallways for the rest of her life. Fear seizes her heart as she stares at the end of the hallway.

“Katie!” She hears Virginia’s voice and turns. Standing at the end of the hallway is Virginia. She looks hazy but Katie blames that on her lack of real sleep. “Katie is that you?” She didn’t respond, instead Katie ran down the hall and into Virginia’s arms.

“You’re here, how are you here? Why are you here?” Katie knows that it doesn’t make sense for Virginia to be here. It’s something that nags at the back of her mind but she feels so safe in her arms that she can barely hear that part of her mind.

“Amora tried to trick us, she told us you were dead, but then your dad found you when he was meditating or something, and I wasn’t going to let them find you on their own.” She was choked up and for a second Katie really believed her. It made enough sense. Virginia had always been stubborn, she’d always been willing to go the extra mile to get what she wanted. “And we found you. We found you, and we can get you home.”

Katie only pulls back to smile at her.

“Come on your dads are waiting for us outside.”

 

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

 

Virginia squeezes her eyes shut. She knows this is probably a lot harder on Daredevil but her head is pounding. The adults are yelling and the teens are fighting and all she wants to do is get Katie. But she doesn’t. She stays and doesn’t touch anything.

“Come at me! Come on speedy!” Violet yells to the Tommy her own age. The older Tommy is holding her back while the younger Teddy is holding younger Tommy back. Mr. Kaplan is still sparking with unused energy while his younger self looks anxiously between his older self and Tony Stark. Steve is trying to negotiate with Mr. Altman but it’s going about as well as she thought it would.

The teenage team isn’t fairing much better. They’re arguing with each other over what’s the best course of action.

“We need to calm down before-” The girl with the hijab starts before the freckled boy interrupts.

“Calm down! There is nothing calm about this situation!” He yelps with ice covering his arms. The girl sparks and soon they’re screaming at each other. Daredevil is kneeling in the corner, probably still reeling from the assault on what senses that were still working.

The room seems to be getting smaller with every second they spend not looking for Katie. God, Katie must be so terrified right now. She thinks to herself watching everyone in the room argue and overall dissolve into loud voices. Taking in a deep breath she focuses on calming herself down before trying to get everyone on the same page.

“EVERYONE SHUT UP!” Her voice is shrill and loud but it does the trick. Everyone turns their attention to her and she’s incredibly aware that she is the only person considered a civilian in this room. She has no training expect for that two-week self-defense class she dropped out of when she started high school. Everyone else has powers and looks more intimidating by the second. Half of them are giving her misplaced glares while the other half looks about ready to dissolve back into arguments.

“Thank you. Now, let’s focus on-” She’s interrupted by arguing again. Everyone has resumed arguing and Virginia understands what it must be like to teach five-year-old’s. “STOP ACTING LIKE FIVE YEAR OLDS FOR A FEW SECONDS! Katie is still missing and probably god damned terrified while you all act like god damn children in this room! When was the last time anyone saw here? Several fucking minutes ago! But are we looking for her? No. We’re arguing in here, and the one person not arguing is Daredevil because she’s fucking curled up in the corner because you’ve overloaded her fucking senses!”

She has everyone’s attention again. All their attention. Misplaced glares, and clenched fists, and all.

“And on top of that you ‘adults’ are acting like none of you have dealt with some weird shit before in your entire lives. Do I have to remind you how many times you have defended this stupid fucking planet from some threat or another? Fuck, a majority of you have fucking faced Kang and out of that majority most of you have fucking _defeated Kang._ Most of you were recruited from that fucking guy. Or is all of that mute now that you’re angry? Huh!? I’m a fucking citizen. I don’t have powers. I don’t have any kind of special training. I’m failing gym class actually. But here I am. In an alternate universe because the girl I love is in danger. So, you ‘superheroes’ need to get your heads out of your _asses_ and fucking _help her._ ”

Virginia is only partially sure she’s not crying. Her voice is hoarse now and if she could feel the rest of her body she’d know she’s trembling. Mr. Altman, and Mr. Kaplan are looking at her like they’ve seen a ghost while their younger selves look impressed. Tony and Steve are actually smiling while Violet still looks ready to punch someone.

It doesn’t dawn on her until later she’s just cussed out some of the most powerful superheroes in New York City. When it does she’s both terrified and proud of herself.

 

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

 

It’s only after Katie gets outside that she starts to doubt that the girl she’s with is Virginia. For one the fake Virginia is acting too calm. Katie knows Virginia, she knows how Virginia acts when she’s worried. She plays with her hair. She plays with other people’s hair. Katie’s hair is still sore from when they studied for finals together and Virginia had pulled her hair into multiple tight braids.

This Virginia is hesitant to even touch her. After their hug she’d barely reach out a hand to help Katie when she stumbled to the ground. She’d run ahead of Katie and only turn back to check on her when she heard Katie’s breathing turn ragged.

When they finally get outside Katie expects hugs. Or yelling. Or something. What does she get?

Nothing.

There is no one waiting outside for them. Her heart drops and she knows she’s been tricked once again. Everything is telling her to just run. Get away from this person pretending to be Virginia and hide. But that isn’t what she does.

“Who are you?” She asks staring at the street in front of her. Katie’s voice is practically non-existent now. She’s spent so much time talking, and then falling into silence that her vocal chords feel like they’re on fire.

“Sweetheart you know who I am.” She replies and while Katie has a few guesses she doesn’t know. “Or maybe you do not know. It does not matter one way or the other.” Katie can hear the victory dancing in her voice. It hurts like a knife to the heart. All that fighting. All of it. Just to be caught, or killed, or brainwashed, or whatever she had planned.

“Come here.” Her limbs obey even though she doesn’t want to. When she turns she’s face to face with Morena. Then the image ripples and Morena is the Enchantress. “Hand me the locket.” Katie reaches into her pocket and fishes it out. Her brain is screaming at her to resist but she can’t. It’s terrifying.

“What are you going to do with it?” She asks as she hands it over. Enchantress just smiles and holds the necklace up to the light. Katie can’t tell if it’s glowing of it’s on accord or if it’s the sun.

“Were you aware it is possible to unite two souls by using magic? It is an ancient practice, hardly considered humane anymore, though neither of us is human. Are we?” Katie hates that she feels more at ease when Enchantress smiles. She hates Enchantress. She hates magic. “Repeat after me young one.

“Bindu sálirnar sem tala þennan staf,” She begins taking Katie’s hands in her own. The locket wrapped inbetween their hands. Katie’s not sure at all what this language is but she has a feeling she wouldn’t like the translation.

“Bindu sálirnar sem tala þennan staf,” The words feel weird in her mouth, though they came out perfectly. She guessed that was probably due to Enchantress.

“Binddu þeim líkama sem standa hér,” Katie thinks that one of the words is bind and she somewhat understands the end of the sentence when she hears a crash. Enchantress’s eyes widen and suddenly they’re both floating several feet above the concrete.

“Binddu þeim líkama sem standa hér,” She knows she hears her dads’ voices but she can’t turn to see if its actually them. Though the last time she thought she heard someone’s voice it turned out to be an Asgardian with a plan Katie believed could be deadly.

“Bindu völdin falin,” Enchantress speaks faster as a bubble appears around them. It’s misty and a pale yellow mixed a dark green that’s coming from Enchantress. She guesses the pale mist is coming from the locket.

“Bindu völdin falin,” She glances down at the locket and is surprised to find the locket is gone and the mist is coming from her own body.

“Bindtu þar til síðasta andardráttur er deilt, er tekinn.” The burning coming from her veins doesn’t feel real. It’s too painful to be real. Like her blood is exploding and causing a chain reaction inside of her skin. Enchantress’s smile is like a Cheshire cat’s and her eyes are feral.

“Bindtu þar til síðasta andardráttur er deilt, er tekinn.” Katie hopes this isn’t the end.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Also I totally forgot I added those few lines in the middle so here's what the words are supposed to mean, the translation is not exact though.
> 
> Bindu sálirnar sem tala þennan staf - Bind the souls who speak this spell  
> Binddu þeim líkama sem standa hér - Bind the bodies that stand here  
> Bindu völdin falin, - Bind the powers hidden  
> Bindtu þar til síðasta andardráttur er deilt, er tekinn- Bind until the last breath is taken


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “I don’t understand. What’s happening? What did Katie do?”
> 
> Virginia’s voice is the first to break the silence.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay so it’s been a hot second since I’ve posted a chapter and I’d like to apologize for that! But on the bright side I can confidentially say this story is gonna be all wrapped up in the next one or two chapters!

Billy’s not sure what happened. But when he feels his soul tear in half he knows that something’s happened. To his left Teddy gasps.

  
They’re at his childhood home. Everyone’s scattered around in the living room, the adults all standing while most of the junior team end up thrown onto the couch. It only takes a few seconds before everyone from the fight earlier is in his childhood living room. Everyone except Katie.

  
“Tommy, Violet, what the hell are you doing?” He turns and faces the speedsters. Tommy looks defiant while Violet looks timid. The younger Tommy appears conflicted. Cara sucks in a deep breath and moves to stand up.  
“What was she planning to do?” Even though she can’t see Cara turns to face the trio of speedsters.

  
“What did Katie do?” Violet pales even more than usual. Billy’s gaze floats between the two of them. Cara drops back onto the couch and Violet’s vibrating so fast Billy’s a little worried she’ll pass right through the floor.

  
“What’s happened?” His younger self is the first to speak up.

  
It’s only now that Billy realizes how insane this really is. He’s standing in his childhood living room. Even though it really isn’t his childhood living room. It’s just a parallel to his own. He’s standing here with his husband, and with his younger self. Both of which seem a little green. Billy’s own younger self is sparking.

  
“She’s -fuck- I think she’s- I can’t hear her heartbeat anymore. Like I know we should be too far away but I can’t hear it but I can still feel Amora’s magic and I can’t hear Katie’s…” She trails off, head hidden away in her hands.  
Billy’s world has been knocked off its axis. The world is tilting around him. And for the first time in his life he understands why his mom went off the deep end after himself and Tommy had died. His legs give out. He doesn’t hit the ground. Teddy’s arms are wrapped around his own.

  
Violet glances around the room, breathing heavy. She shakes her head, like they’re all playing a cruel joke on her. They watch as she sprints from the room. Cara’s curling up on herself, sobbing loudly but no one says anything. Ingrid and Nash hug. If he had the capacity to be worried about someone else Billy would be worried about those two fusing into one. But he doesn’t have that capacity. So he doesn’t.

  
In the back of his mind he knows Tommy is reacting too. Their younger selves as well. Though he can’t concentrate long enough to figure out how they’re reacting.

  
“I don’t understand. What’s happening? What did Katie do?” Virginia’s voice is the first to break the silence. She’s separated herself from the rest of them. Standing next to a window. She’s trembling. In his heart Billy knows that Virginia knows what’s happening. That she knows but doesn’t want to accept it. She glances around the room though. No one meets her gaze. When the truth finally sets in Billy’s heart breaks. “She didn’t. She wouldn’t. Katie promised. Katie promised she wouldn’t. I-I n-no…”

  
Virginia shakes her head. She’s mumbling something about how this can’t be happening. Billy wishes it wasn’t happening either.

 

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

 

Death is a 6’3, black hair pulled into pigtails, bangs framing their face, framing molten gold eyes, and freckles. Katie never imagined Death having freckles. Death frowns. Waving a hand towards two bean bags that weren’t there a minute ago. The bangles clink every time Death moves their arm. They sit down on the beanbag looking up at Katie expectantly. When Katie doesn’t move Death nods solemnly and begins to speak.

  
“You’re early Kathryn.” Katie’s mouth falls open. Great, I can’t even die right. She thinks before Death continues. “Which means you should be going back soon.”

  
“What do you mean I’m going back? I can’t. Amora will-” She cuts herself off. What would Amora do? Torture her for the rest of her life? Sacrifice her? Every thought that pops into her head is worse than the last. Katie plops down onto the other beanbag.

  
“It is not your time to pass on. You have many more adventures to have before then. So you are allowed to go back. Though I cannot assure you that Amora will not release her fury upon you.” Katie takes in a deep breath and rubs her eyes as hard as possible. Death continues on. “Which is why I offer you the opportunity to spend the rest of your time here, between the living and the dead.”

  
She glances up at Death. They look solemn. Katie bites her lip, glances at the landscape around her. White walls meet white ceilings, meet, big surprise, white tile floors. The room is hypnotic. Bright purple beanbags are the only thing that doesn’t blend in with the walls, or ceiling, or floors.

  
“I’d be a ghost?” Death nods. Katie considers it, for a millisecond she considers spending however long she has left here. Forgoing any attempt to keep fighting. To stop putting any effort into living. She’s spiraling into her darkest thoughts when Death speaks again.

  
“And I know this is not my place but I must inform you that your family will still fight for you, no matter what you choose. They will fight. And if the universe aligns correctly, they may even win. Do you want to live with the knowledge they won only for you to give up?” Katie takes in a deep breath. Because she knows the answer. She knows that no matter what, this was always what it would come down to. Her breath in turns into a shudder before she raises her head to face Death.

 

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

 

“That bitch is going down.” Ingrid states standing up. They’ve spent countless minutes in silence, or near silence.

  
“You and what army?” Younger Tommy asks and Ingrid watches older Tommy flinch. Younger Billy shoots him a glare and older Billy opens his mouth only to watch as Violet reappears in the room. She smacks him over the head.

  
“The same fucking army that broke you out of mutant juvie and the same army that broke me out of a testing facility in the middle of the goddamned ocean.” She responds crossing her arms over her chest. Ingrid smiles. Cara stands up next.

  
“I can feel her power draining. It’s getting faint but I could still track her if we leave in the next couple minutes.” The twins stand up and nod in union. Nash is the last one up, but when he takes Ingrid’s hand it’s obvious he’s as all in as the rest of them are. The adults stand as well. No one speaks, but the sentiment is shared.

  
Then Tony decides to speak.

  
“And how exactly do you plan on taking Amora down? Pixie dust and believing? Because-” Tony’s interrupted by older Billy.

  
“Fuck off Tony.” The younger Billy and Teddy gasp, while both Tommys smirk. Tony looks offended before Billy speaks again. “I don’t want strategy advice on someone who takes out teenagers in a war.” Tony looks ready to yell something back but Cara stands, faces him, pulls back her fist, and then Tony is staggering back a few paces.

  
She doesn’t smirk, nor does she add a snarky remark. But Violet does. “Fuck you Stark.” It may not be her best work, but it’s better than nothing. Ingrid smiles wider. She can feel the tides shift. The ocean rousing for a war beyond its waves.

  
Tony doesn’t get back up. He only spares a glance at the girl who brought him down. Ingrid can feel herself tense for a retort, but none comes.

  
“Let’s go save Katie.” She says, and for the first time in her life she understands why Katie always described leading them as an adrenaline rush.

 

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

 

Virginia is put on Stark patrol. Which essentially means she’s on house arrest until they allow her to leave. It’s partially infuriating, partially relieving.

  
Attempting to fight an Asgardian that looked like her girlfriend wasn’t a good idea. She knew that. She acknowledged it. That in no way meant she couldn’t be more helpful than just babysitting a fully grown man. Yet that was the position she found herself in.

  
“Did I really kill teenagers in a war?” He asked from the couch. So far they’d taken to ignoring one another in favor of watching the fight on the Kaplan’s TV. She’d taken the floor, he’d taken the couch.

  
“Only one person died, and they weren’t a teenager. But you did like cause Wiccan and someone else I don’t remember the name of to pass out, then you uh, you put them in some kind of jail I think? We learned about it in a history class.” She responded. Virginia didn’t always pay attention in class, but that fact was something that had struck a chord in her after she’d heard it. The next day she’d traded in her Stark phone for a Samsung.

  
The silence fell over them again as the report lady -Virginia recognizes her as the future Co-anchor of a news channel her foster parents watch- points to one of the Teddy’s landing another blow on Amora. The fight is vicious in a way Virginia had never seen. Most of the time the fights were accompanied by quick wit and burning retorts. But this was nerve wracking.

  
“As you can see there are several heroes here. Some sporting the same general appearance and the same power sets. We haven’t had it confirmed from SHIELD yet but-” The reporter lady says but Virginia isn’t paying attention anymore. The mere mention of SHIELD is enough to cause a ball of anxiety to appear in her stomach. Which is when the TV begins to short circuit. As if it too can sense the changing tides.

  
“Victorious… falling… Flying away….” Virginia watches in horror as Billy flies away with Katie’s unconscious body in his arms.

 

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

 

Violet’s pacing back and forth so fast that the mansion floor now has permanent marks. It’s not helping any of her teammates who are as nervous as she is. Nor is it comforting Virginia who’s spent the last half an hour tapping her fingers against the bench.

  
“Violet if I hear the scraping of your shoes against the floor one more time I swear to god I’m going to slap you.” Cara snaps, the room’s already silent causing her voice to carry louder and farther.

  
“It’s not my fault that-” Violet’s reply is interrupted by the door opening. Everyone’s on their feet, staring helplessly at Billy. He looks exhausted, slumped against the doorframe as if it’s the only thing holding him up. His eyes are glazed over as he runs his hands through his hair.

  
The silence spreads through the room, filling up every and all the available space. Violet couldn’t breathe.

  
“She’s not dead is she?” Virginia asks, Violet doesn’t know why the question bothers her so much. That is until she realizes her expectations led her to believe that Katie would be alright. Maybe a little bruised, and a hell of a lot of therapy in store, but ultimately alive. The question seems to strike the same chord with everyone else as their faces contort, broken and sad.

  
Violet likes to believe that being a superhero hasn’t changed her that much. That is until she starts talking to regular people. Until she realizes that normal people don’t deal with dangerous villains and life or death situations every other day. Until she hears Virginia sobbing in the bathroom an hour earlier, because there was a huge possibility that Katie wasn’t going to make it.

  
Billy doesn’t respond right away. Which, in Violet’s humble opinion, makes everything worse. Then Teddy walks out and with a sigh of what she believes to be relief, speaks.


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When Katie opens her eyes, she’s confused.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! It has been too long since I've updated this story last and I'd really like to apologize for that. School and life got really busy and I just couldn't find the time to finish this chapter. I'd also like to say that if you haven't realized it this will be the last chapter of this story! I do plan on writing more in this little universe I've created, I also love these characters and plan on writing a few little things dedicated to them such as proper backstories, spin off stories, and/or an adventure dedicated to this new team of superheros!
> 
> If you do want to see these stories please leave a comment telling me what you guys would be interested in reading! Even if you don't I'll probably write these stories for myself. Either way thank you so much for reading and commenting and leaving kudos on this story. You guys have no idea how much it means to me.

When Katie opens her eyes, she’s confused. The ceiling she’s staring at isn’t her own ceiling. It’s white and tiled and the more she looks at it the more she realizes that the ceiling she’s staring at is a hospital ceiling. Katie blinks at the ceiling. She hears people talking though she can’t locate where they are. Her instinct is to pull herself up and look around the room, but her arms feel too weak.

“Hello?” She’s not entirely sure if the words came out of her mouth or if they’d just been in her head. No one responds so she assumes the latter.

Her mind is spiraling as memories flood back. The screaming and the fighting and Amora’s voice screeching that she’d be back. That she’d get Katie’s powers one way or another. Even though she knows that the brain can’t remember pain it still lingers in her limbs. In the tips of her fingers and toes. Bruises continue to form all over from the fighting. She raises up her hand, to make sure she has all of her fingers and notices something’s off.

“Am I green?” Katie’s positive she’s said this out loud as the slam of a door against a wall sounds from the other end of the room. Her vision’s suddenly crowded with people she knows and loves, and a few people she doesn’t really know. “Are there doubles of everyone or do I just have a concussion?” At first glance she sees two pairs of her parents, two Tommy’s, and Violet vibrating in the corner of her eye.

The room erupts into laughter, which leads to tears, and eventually ends with her being grounded for at least two weeks.

“What! That’s so not fair!” She whined as her parents frowned on either side of her. The younger-not-yet-married version of her parents looked guilty while her older-and-definitely-married version of her parents frowned.

“Maybe not but with your new powers we can’t risk-”

“That’s so hypocritical! You totally got to live free after you found out about your powers!” Katie interrupted, the younger version of her parents flinched at her words. Her dad’s face fell before Teddy interjected.

“That was under extremely different-” He reached a hand out to touch her but Katie pulled back and pushed herself farther into the pillows.

“And you let Violet run free, like literally run free after she got here!” She knew Violet’s escape was a low blow. Violet and older Tommy both flinched when she spat out her counter. It made her heart hurt and Katie regretted her decision immediately. She didn’t apologize. Instead she stared down her dads with every ounce of courage she had left. “And you didn’t criticize Cara when she came back bloody and bruised from her revenge trip! You didn’t say a god-damned word when Ingrid and Nash left for weeks on fucking end and went up in those mountains! And don’t even forget the twins. Don’t forget them! So why am I different? Huh? Why!”

The room is buzzing with electricity. The IV’s in her arms are tingling in her skin where the needle touches her bare skin. Everything feels like power that she can wield and use. Everything around her is just a weapon waiting to be crafted so that she can-

“Katherine Sara Altman!” Her dad yells and everything comes crashing down around her. Literally and figuratively. A tray just to her left clatters to the ground as the guilt and weight of her newfound powers finally hits her.

Everyone in the room is looking at her. Staring, unblinking at the girl with green skin, sparking with uncontrollable electricity in the middle of a hospital bed. No one speaks. No one breaths. Katie finds herself wondering if this is what her dad must’ve felt like after he’d hurt his childhood bully. Scary and powerful at the same time. Terrified and exhilarated.

She can’t tell if she’s breathing or if the ragged breaths she can hear are coming from someone far, far away. No one moves towards her. No one moves to comfort her. She feels as helpless and terrified as the first time she’d realized that her dad was hurt and might never get better. He did of course, or else she wouldn’t be here, remembering the day she realized that sometimes people didn’t get better. That sometimes the world didn’t care about your feelings or your situation.

“I’m sorry.” She means for it to come out as a whisper, but it sounds like a shout compared to the silence. Tears are slipping down her cheeks and she finds herself too weak to wipe away her tears.

After several seconds Katie feels someone wipe under her eyes. When she turns Violet is standing next to her with tissue paper clutched in one hand and tears of her own. Ingrid and Nash are standing behind her, holding hands and smiling at her. Both are tearing up once again but refuse to let the smiles fall away as if to say they accept her apology. Cara is standing beside her parents but moves towards her.

She doesn’t say anything but reaches out finds Katie’s hand. It feels like everything that Katie wants to hear. It feels as if she’s almost forgiven for her words. It feels as if Cara is saying ‘Yes you fucked up and yes it wasn’t your fault, but things will get better, and none of us are leaving you just yet.’

And for the first time in a long time Katie feels hopeful.

 

 

  _Epilogue_

_1 month later…_

Staring out across the beach Katie takes in a deep settling breath. For the first time since the incident she’s alone. It was less of an accident than Aunt Kate had made it seem. ‘I’m going to grab some popcorn.’ Aunt Kate said watching Katie’s reaction closely. Katie nodded without looking away from the ocean. She got up quickly and barely kept her legs from running off.

Under Katie’s legs the sand is warm, and grounds her in the moment. Every second since coming back from that alternate universe has been spent grounding herself in every moment. Grounding herself and enjoying the people and places around her. Experiencing the joy and pain that life presented her with, like when she’d found a twenty-dollar bill on the sidewalk, or when Virginia had said they ‘need to take a break’ because ‘this is getting too serious too fast’ and ‘it’s just a high-school relationship it shouldn’t get this serious!’.

“Hi.” A small spray of sand accompanies Violet’s arrival.

“Hey.”

“I heard your thinking about joining the team again.”

“I might be.”

“Well we’re ready to have you back if you want to come back.”

“… Thank you, I really do appreciate it.”

“Also I have news.”

“Oh?”

“I don’t think I’m just a clone.”


End file.
